With God’s grace

This phrase summarizes the valedictory speech of Msgr. Noly Que, LRMS, PhD on June 22 when he bid goodbye and thanked the many people who worked with him and shared his dreams of performing his ministry during his 14 years as priest in the Diocese of Bacolod.

“We priests have no vested interest. We work for God’s vineyard, we do ministry and nothing more,” he told a full packed crowd that came for dinner at the John B. Liu Activities Center. The rains were pouring hard outside but he said, this was as if “the heavens are crying” that he was to leave.

He came to Bácolod “as a newly ordained deacon out of obedience to my superior… armed with faith that God calls me to be his minister for the Filipino Chinese Catholics of Queen of Peace Parish.”

But fate brought him to more than just the Chinese Catholics; he became part of the entire community of the faithful.

Indeed after serving the diocese this long and rising from a young priest to becoming parochial vicar, school director and a Pontifical Awardee that conferred on him the title of Right Reverend Monsignor, an Honorary Prelate, leaving Bácolod was truly difficult for Msgr. Noly.

But he said he goes where he is told to go, that is his mission as a priest. Indeed he is a missionary especially to the Chinese who had needed more workers after the initial missionary effort of Msgr. John B. Liu and Msgr. John Su, the models that he called his “Tatay” an endearing word for such respected men who came to Bácolod at a crucial time when the Chinese were in dire need of pastors who understood them.

Msgr. Noly brought to his pastoral and educational ministry a passion that only those with missionary zeal can truly express.

He will be remembered with so many things, not the least of which is the construction of the Domus Dei Complex in Silay City where today stands a monument to his achievements. He reasoned this project: “convinced that my priesthood is connected to my Bishop I became an eyewitness to the plight of my sickly, elderly and retired brother priests in the Diocese.”

The Domus preceded him but he gave it his full attention, raising funds and buttonholing friends who were receptive to his idea that the priests who served in the Lord’s vineyard deserve the best when they can no longer serve as much as they wanted.

He explained that “all these things were made possible brought about by your inspiration and total support. This is not my work. This is God’s work. We thank the Lord for allowing us to participate in His work in Building His kingdom on Earth.”

Beyond his priestly duties and outside his work administering St. John’s Institute, he devoted his boundless energy to the Negros Occidental Private School Cultural, Sports and Educational Association that for years since its foundation had rented a place. Under his presidency, NOPSSCEA constructed its own building, another testimony to his capability to raise funds for a noble cause.

A pastor that he is, he looked at the underprivileged children of his parish and since “I cannot close my eyes to the realities of life, a value I learned back home that doing something for others is a responsibility of one who follows Jesus,” Msgr. Que initiated an innovative way of raising funds for scholarship of the poor children of his parish, the “Light a Bulb, Send a Child to School program” that raised several millions every Christmas.

Dozens of kids were sent all the way to college under this program that hopefully will continue even when he is already the Superior General of his Congregation, the Lorenzo Ruiz Mission Society.

The achievements of so young a priest are many; it is difficult to put them in one piece. But his work outside of his ministry, including housing for the poor, had been recognized by the City of Bácolod that conferred on him in 2010 the city’s highest award, the “Ang Banwahanon Award”, aside from the Dungganon Award in 2009 for his other achievements.

I think he is the only person in this city who received both awards one after the other.

Msgr. Que is a vibrant fellow whose dynamism is difficult to match. His new assignment as head of his congregation will bring him to mission fields in other parts of the world, but I think his years in Bácolod are part of God’s plan to prepare him for greater challenges, especially in the mission field of China where hundreds of missionaries and thousands of Catholics had toiled and were martyred.

His life and work in this Diocese are small compared to the task ahead but as he said he is strengthened “with God’s grace.”*

back to top